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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation and other products set in the same universe are all owned by Rifujin na Magonote, Shirotaka, Shosetsuka ni Naro, Media Factory, and Studio Bind.

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Chapter 5: Silvery Rodent

Three weeks had gone since that cuddle session and... Well, nothing much had happened beyond what I had already mentioned last time.

Training, teaching Ghislaine stuff like how to Math and how to read and write stuff, and going out on missions that were just getting more and more difficult with each rise in rank. D-Rank was tough, but it didn't get as tough as it had been with the whole Manticore ordeal. An investigation was still unfolding as more proof of demonic tampering was confirmed by the stronger groups of adventurers set out to get a clear sight of what the hell was going on. And as I had promised to myself, we weren't going to come even close to that kind of shit. Not when we had pressing issues when it came to training. I finally 'head butted' into a wall. For a while.

To advance my sword-style training I had to get my knowledge on Magic started at least by the basis. Zenith was happy to provide assistance in that regard, yet she couldn't promise me an 'immediate solution to my current problem'. Which was legit considering how tough everything else was. Still, I had been particularly unsure about learning magic up to that very point. It wasn't like I didn't want to dabble into it, but I found the interest of knowing how to sword much more relevant considering my early circumstances. Now that we were in a better situation? I decided to give it a try and see how that worked for me.

...It worked well. Way too well.

Zenith's explanation and first two-three lessons gave me a solid grasp of what I was trying to accomplish out of the basis. The point of learning some incantations and gauging my mana before going for real spells: I needed to be in the conditions to cast spells. And the result was that I could thanks to various factors. Still, let's backtrack a little. How is it even possible that I managed to have mana to begin with? If one thinks about it, the answer would be rather complicated and particularly suspicious.

In a normal situation, I shouldn't have any and be forced into mediocrity. The keywords here being 'In a normal situation'. Just like I shouldn't have been able to read or speak the common tongue in this realm, I just had mana, and I had a feeling this was tied to the very being that brought me here. Nonetheless, it was another boon that helped me in the matter. It wasn't an immediate OP boost to my current stats, but one that was boosted by my current stats themselves.

Mana in this world is developed the same way a JRPG would: INT was the basis for high Mana-generation, while VIT allowed for the physical reserves to grow and keep greater amounts of Mana. That last bit explained why Zenith had 'smaller' reserves than I had expected, but still big enough compared to her current 'VIT'. She argued that the reserves were meant to increase the more one used their mana... but increasing Vitality made for the best way to expand that as harmlessly as possible.

So, against the blonde's 'rightful' wishes, I assigned Ghislaine to give her some early morning training to get her stamina improved. Annoyed as she might be, Zen was forced to begrudgingly accept the simple reasoning that she needed to get a nimbler frame if she wanted to dodge trouble if we weren't around to cover for her. We would still put the effort of protecting the healer, but we weren't... ever-present when a situation went sour.

So, back to me, why did magic work quite well with me? Testing some harmless water spell I started to get a proper grasp of what was up. With my body managing to hold a considerable amount of mana and regenerating it fairly fast compared to a newbie due to my physical improvements in the last two months or so, I could replace learning by the book with 'learning by Life-sensei and hope it doesn't flip the birdie at me'. And the result was that I discovered one could actually cast things silently. Zenith had been quite confident in saying that incantations was the best way to do that and... I think that wasn't the case.

The way silent-casting worked was somewhat similar to Harry Potter's transfiguration: will is an essential part of the foundation, with visualization being the defining perimeter for the limitations of the spell. Obviously, there were other factors to keep in mind, but still I could happily state that Zenith had been wrong. And I showed it to her by demonstrating a chanted spell and a silent-casted one. The former yielded a decent stream of water, the other offered a greater result by producing it faster and more of the liquid. She looked at the scene, then back at me, and then back at the confusing sight that was slowly destroying her mind.

"How?" Was the first word she uttered and then she elaborated that she wanted to know how to silent-chant herself.

When I asked her why she never tried before, Zen admitted that all teachers and books she learned from would always remind her that 'it was not possible' and that it was 'ill-advised to try'. It didn't take me long to realize this was blatant censorship meant to prevent further research on the topic. But why? What good reason would force the government to censor this kind of stuff? Was a God tied to this? Multiple of them? I didn't have enough to accuse anything at the moment, but it was clear that the ones in charge had a bit of a problem when it came to advancing magical knowledge.

Despite that intriguing aspect, I still taught Zen how to silent-cast spells, or at least the basis behind my testing. She took a while to get a proper grasp of it but... she was soon giggling while shooting small spheres of water around in a strange euphoric moment. One that ended quite early as one of the projectiles ended up slamming onto the face of a Ghislaine that was passing by. To her credit, the Beast Woman kept a poker face despite the slight and didn't say or do anything towards Zenith. Just for that day. The real 'retaliation' came when the blonde was subjected to a tougher training that was unusual, with Ghislaine's wagging tail suggesting that she was indeed 'proud' of her plan to come back at the girl.

Still, despite my newfound love for magic as I wanted to test out its limit by breaking some rules of physics, I decided I wasn't a wizard- or rather, I trusted my sword more than magic itself. Despite its potential, magic was limited to my mana and that wasn't something that was always available if one used a special barrier that restrained the use of mana itself. So, sword fighting was still the main priority, and mana was helping me get back on track.

Fast forward to the end of these three weeks, and I was feeling particularly good with how things were doing. Ghislaine had been brought around to help me with math when talking with merchants and store-keepers to keep the little economic plan I got running until we got a good part of the entire town contracted with my special deal. Income was going to mature well once the month came to an end and I had already made a few plans with Ghislaine and Zenith about buying a building in town and fit it as our hideout there.

Sure, the Inn was nice and we all had a good relationship with the host and his wife, but that didn't mean we could rely so heavily on their available rooms forever. It was something that was eventually going to screw us if we didn't get the chance to pay for the needed rooms in time, and with more and more young adventurers coming up, it was clear that this was going to end up tougher with each passing day.

Now, I had a few plans in mind, but we were all bickering on which place to pick up in town. And by 'all' I meant me and Zenith since this was one of the many topics a certain Beast Woman gave less of a shit about. Not like she didn't want a place like that to begin with, but she didn't mind where it was set as she just envisioned her ideal living place as somewhere with a room for her with a nice bed to rest on and... a kitchen. A kitchen with someone that can cook for her every time she wants.

Did I mention Ghislaine is quite the foodie at times? I think I forgot and... yeah, she loves to eat a lot. Faster metabolism and all of that always leave her as slim and muscular as usual.

It was during one of those days Zen and I were bickering that we ended up meeting someone that even now I don't know if he is unconsciously stupid or purposely a pervert. We were planning to get a mission out, and take a bit of a gamble about how many vases we were going to carry from one city to another. Just before leaving, Zenith stopped mid-speech to 'eep' as someone had touched her from behind. It was an immediate slap or something of the kind as I heard the noise, turning around together with the rest of the group to watch the giggling bastard behind that move try to pass it off as nothing. Sadly for him, the glass mug I threw at him proved to be particularly telling that we weren't just going to let it go.

The glass cracked at impact as it landed on the back of his head, the jerk stopped and recoiled in surprise at that throw and gave me a serious glare. Blond hair, blue eyes, he had that fresh face that just said 'I am here to mingle with ladies, and kick men's butt' attitude.

"Hey, what the hell was that for?"

"Y-You slapped me, you cur!" Zenith replied angrily and the guy shrugged.

"It was just me bumping while passing-"

"I saw you slap her." Ghislaine flatly interrupted, but her interjection only amused the guy.

"Oh, I bet you saw other things too, lady~," The blond rebuked, finally getting me irked.

"Don't you have some filter to your mouth? It's just starting to get annoying to hear all the trashy flirty stuff in your repertoire," I remarked, my insult getting a different reaction from the blond.

"Ohi! My flirting is not trashy."

"It's pathetic, man," One of the other adventurers in the guild shot back, and soon others confirmed that kind of line of thought. The way the jerk got barraged by insults pointed out two elements I had ignored: 1) The guild was looking after us because of the way we interacted with the others. Most of those interactions happened by the nearby inn, but those small exchanges of words and jokes ended up building a good rep for our party. And the fact Zen was beloved by many further gained people 'protecting' her that way; 2) This guy was new, or he would have known that he was risking a lot with that move.

"W-Well, I want to challenge you to a duel then!"

"Nope," I replied without skipping a beat.

"I guess then you are a coward that can't back up their party members, a stupid leader-"

"How about ya challenge us then, ye chatty boy?" One of the older adventurers sharply intervened, a burly bald man with a long red beard, grasping at his war ax as he said that. "Lesse if lil guy can handle the heat."

I didn't listen to it as we were all leaving. Any bickering ended that day, but I ultimately decided to concede to Zenith's choice in terms of where we were going to live since she had won that bet. She didn't say anything about it, and almost looked stunned when I brought it up. What happened at the guild really left quiet, and I felt fairly upset about it. But... it wasn't to the point of risking it for a no-name bastard that was definitely going to get chewed by the rest of the guild.

The day went on smoothly, with no issue coming from this new problem and... then something happened that night. The host of the Inn came to wake me, Zen and Ghislaine off from bed to handle something odd. One thing I really forgot to mention is that the host and his wife had a daughter. One that just recently had finished maturing into a fine lady. She was quite social with men, but never the flirty way. In a sense, any guy that had stayed long enough here was quite protective of this gal and I had the chance to speak with her. Helena was a lovely girl through and through, and one that seemed to hit it off the most with Zenith.

So, when we were brought out of our rooms, we were caught off-guard when the man almost bellowed about his daughter. Zenith was the one that bolted to check on the girl first, almost rushing to the side as she spotted the crying girl telling something to her sobbing mother. Turns out that an utter bastard had seduced her to be intimate with her last week. He had sweet-talk to her, made her feel special and then, as he was done having fun with her, ghosted her completely.

When she confronted him, the guy just said that 'it was all for fun' and that 'she was amazing', but that he wasn't planning to settle down 'this soon in his youth'. So, sweet-promising her a serious relationship had been all a joke. Zenith would later confirm to me that Helena didn't remain pregnant, which was a relief in that sea of dreadful discomfort. I was just shocked someone would go for something so brazen, but what had made my blood boil is that I realized who it was from the way Helena described him and the name she gave him.

Paul Greyrat. That last name was normally a badge of power since high roles of the kingdom were taken over by the various branches of the Greyrat family and... I had reason to believe this one wasn't as connected with the rest of the family, but carried the distinct trait of being particularly dominant on servants and those women they thought less of. Oh yes, do I love medieval society now more than before? Jokes aside, I'm going full crusade on this bastard's ass, and I had an idea.

Next morning, I was appearing terribly calm. Ghislaine was tense as she could perceive my face wasn't showing what was bubbling within me, and Zenith just had her intuition telling her I was about to do something insanely bad. The two didn't say anything, but I could feel their stares on me. As soon as we arrived at the guild, my objective wasn't to get a quest started. I looked for Paul and found him.

Dipshit was surprised when I was the one challenging him to a duel, but accepted instantly as he wanted to 'see the ladies' again. He sure didn't know what he was getting into, not by provoking me some more. If I was irked before, now I was bloody murderous. Paul just went on with it, being quite confident in winning this brawl. We went outside, right by the town's outskirts and dragging with us a following of adventurers that wanted to know how this was going to end.

He was even more excited when I offered to use tree branches, I think he was just looking for ways to humiliate me more and with greater opportunity. I just wanted to maim him really bad. Like, I had moments of murderous intent before, but never this intense and never this demanding. And, despite his shortcomings, there is something that Paul was good at and I could respect him for that single aspect of his.

He was a good fighter- no, he was more than that. When the fight started, I proceeded to study my opponent. The cheeky blond was, despite his easy-going approach, still focusing a lot on the battle and as the first few minutes went, I started to notice a dangerous pattern that could have led me to defeat if I wasn't careful enough.

Paul's fighting style was a mix of all three known sword styles, using North God Style to get close to his opponents, Sword God to handle the offense and the Water God Style to muster a quick defense. It was an impressive combo, and infuriating that I wanted to reach that kind of perfection myself.

He was still a dangerous foe, but he had one small flaw I was exploiting as quickly as possible. One thing that I learned while adding magic to my arsenal of sword fighting skills was that I could use some of the healing magic that Zenith taught me to heal myself. Considering the spell acted on the user's body, I just needed to pause and tap any part of my body to get it to heal properly. And the best part of it? I could heal fatigue and stress, while also adding some minor boost by using some mana to bolster parts of my legs.

In fact, I had something not many swordsmen had: I knew where to generally apply the boost to gain the best outcome possible within my legs. Where the muscles were, which parts had to be pumped up with mana the most and... also how to ease down the pressure of some quick dodges that normally I wouldn't be able to accomplish.

I wasn't exactly Ultra-instincting my way through the battle, with a few hits getting through my speed and landing on my arms and ribs. But the pain didn't stop me from retaliating with extreme viciousness. Paul's smile faltered, and he tried to catch up to my intense offense, but failed to do so at the right time.

I had been hitting his legs a lot, making sure that his muscles were hurting by the time he tried to pump more energy there and reduce his speed in the process. He tried to say something, but my branch hit him on the cheek, leaving a non-negligible cut. I think that was where he realized my blank expression wasn't about me being condescending towards me.

No, I wasn't doing just 'that'. I was angry, and I had so much frustration to take on him for what happened with Helena. I imagined the scene, her crying, her discomfort, her aimlessness and... and something just snapped within me. I didn't care about suffering if it meant teaching this scumbag a lesson or two.

By the time the duel was over, Paul was on his knees, his left arm bent in an unnatural way and a few spots of his face swollen by bruises and bumps. He wasn't amused anymore, dropping his branch and giving up. His punishment had him pale in shock as I brought him to the inn and right in front of Helena's father.

"Here's the scoundrel. He will apologize to Helena at once."

It was a sight that was seen by most of those in the inn, but also those from the guild that had watched the spar themselves, stunned by the level of viciousness I went through for something that simple. The crying girl that screamed angrily at Paul was worth all of it, so that any trauma was beaten back before it became a real trouble for her poor mind.

Zenith then healed Paul by my request, and the host officially banned him from his establishment while we left to get some rest. Zen gave me a worried look even as I was healed up, the amount of magic I had used during the fight had drained my reserves by a lot. I was risking exhaustion if I used another spell and... she was quite vocal about what happened.

"You could have gotten much worse than that," She pointed out. "Why did you... do that?"

I snorted. "Why shouldn't I have done that?"

"It wasn't a concern directed at us," Ghislaine argued calmly. "It sounds too excessive."

"Ah, but does a concern have to be aimed at us to be something to move against? Isn't it our prerogative as those that can help others to do so if possible?" I remarked calmly, almost smiling as I glanced at Zenith. "Weren't you the one that told me you wanted to do that? Why shouldn't I do that too?"

"Because you got hurt by it. We could have done this together-"

"And it would have changed little, Zen," I argued softly, this time my attention back to Ghislaine. "What would be the purpose of challenging someone to see his mistakes if they are put against what they would see as cowardly unfairness?"

"None," The beast woman replied with a quiet hum. "You still got yourself hurt... but you also did something with your magic. It was different from how I use it."

Her tail was wagging and I chuckled. "I will tell you once we are back to a safer place and... after we're done with the last preparation for moving out."

Zenith sighed at my jovial tone, almost upset I was disregarding how close I got to burn myself out in that stupid duel. It was a bit embarrassing, but I had to do that in order to win. If I had fought a more serious Paul, I would have lost. My saving grace had been how he had focused on humiliating me for most of the duel, thus pulling his punches when needed and thus giving me the chance to overwhelm him at a quick enough pace. This battle, just like my second spar with Ghislaine, was a reminder that I was still off from being strong enough to handle the strong 'plot-relevant' rookies of this world. I needed to catch up somehow so I wouldn't end up overwhelmed by this matter.

And yet I could tell that the situation with Paul was far from over.

AN

Next time, an apologetic jerk?

IMO, Paul just needed a beating, maybe two, to get his shit sorted. He is a good friend, but a bastard when it comes to morals, but, then again, he had a spoiled childhood and got even cockier with how lucky his life had been in many instances after that. It's the kind of jerk that needs to slam his skull on a very thick wall to get a reality check. And a metaphorical one might be up for the next chapter.

Still, long chapter, don't make it a habit as I made it long because it had to be long. Depending on the circumstances it can be 2k up to 4k, but that's all. Don't expect me to uber-pack stuff with endless details.

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